Happy Year of the Rat!
I have 2 cookbooks for Chinese food that I like very much-- "The Key to Chinese Cooking" by Irene Kuo, and the "Land of Plenty" by Fuchsia Dunlop. (Written about 25 years apart!)
Both have recipes for sweet-sour sauce --not the gloppy red stuff, good stuff! These are recipes for the SAUCE ONLY,
I've used the sauce over pork, chicken, sweet potatoes, onion, many vegetables, and rice, wontons, etc.

Here are both: except for the black Chinese vinegar, I've made both as written. Partial (but just barely) to the 2nd one. Both tasty!

Mix the salt, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, flour/cornstarch in a little bowl. Set aside.
Fry the ginger and garlic in the peanut oil for about 20-30 seconds (don't burn the garlic it's awful if it's burned--I don't even let it get brown, just soft.)
Then, mix in the ingredients from the little bowl, add the stock, bring to boil and let thicken, add scallions and sesame oil, pour over whatever you like under.

Joined: 29 Sep 2004Posts: 1196Location: buried under a pile of books somewhere in Adelaide, South Australia

Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 4:49 am Post subject:

Kung Hei Fat Choi and San nin faai lok, gingerpale and all C&Zers!

(Congratulations and Be Prosperous & Happy New Year)

In my search for those sayings, I discovered that buying books during Chinese New Year is bad luck because the word for "book" is a homonym to the word "lose". And buying a pair of shoes is considered bad luck amongst some Chinese. The word "shoes" is a homophone for the word for "rough" in Cantonese, or "evil" in Mandarin._________________Doing what you like is freedom
Liking what you do is happiness

Gulp! That's two of my addictions I can't touch...Please tell me that I can at least buy chocs!! Or is 'chocolate' a homonym for Angry Bank Manager!?!?!

Incidentally... I do like that word homonym. ... and presumably there would also be feminyms too. Of course any reader of Gulliver knows that there are houhynyms (sp. ?) too.

I used to wish I'd been born in the year of the Dragon or the Tiger instead of the Rabbit/Cat... but at least I'm not a Rat or a Monkey!! I prefer the Cat to the Rabbit... unless I get to be Bugs Bunny of course!

Anyone else know what their Chinese sign is? Year of the Foodie? Year of the Chef? Year of the Chocolate Fiend?_________________Confusion comes fitted as standard.

Well, unfortunately I am not going to pass the chocs as they are gorgeous ones that Rainey made and sent me via Donna..... going to be really greedy and eat them all myself... ok, maybe one or two for Wayne or he will complain really really loudly._________________If you cannot feel your arteries hardening, eat more cheese. If you can, drink more red wine. Diet is just "die" with a "t" on the end. Exercise is walking into the kitchen.

Well as a Rabbit/Cat some of it makes sense, but it doesn't entirely match my Scorpio profile. I can be very Scorpionic (shameless, naughty, tendency to misbehaviour... ahem) As for being sweet... bah! Humbug! I have always aspired to scandalous behaviour (so as to have interesting memoirs when I retire) and I am a Public DISGRACE!!! Well I try anyway.

I do like fashion, art and design tho'. As for 'Generally noted for their physical beauty'... I'm saying nothing! Tall, skinny and funny looking possibly but other than that... I'm definitely saying nothing. _________________Confusion comes fitted as standard.

Hmmm...I don't recognize myself at all in the Rat description. Perhaps in another life? And while I'm not much into astrology in general, I must admit that, more often than not, the Taurus descriptions are much closer to the mark.

Georgia-- "And all of this means...what??"
Haha--it means that Clotilde is extremely generous to allow these discussions in the Recipe Box thread!
It is interesting to think that so many people thought (at great length! with great detail!) about both astrology and the Chinese lunar calendar. Why should the date of a person's birth translate into either personality traits or a representative animal? Think how ridiculously hard it must have been way back then to track the planets! Are there other date-related groups that exist?

Griffin I know for a concrete granite marble fact that you are sweet/sympatico/. No error, no argument. Nicki if you are a Virgo sweetness doesn't matter you're great without it.

Simona--another ox Virgo! You're right, it is an odd combination--but one of the best mixes I'm sure!

It only says that you like art, not that you know anything about it!! Same with clothes. I suppose you could be ambitious to make a dish you haven't made yet!

I am ambitious to make the Lemon Sables from Clotilde's book... and to eventually make something savoury from it too!! I may even try to make everything in the book at least once. That's an ambition for you too David!_________________Confusion comes fitted as standard.